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Progressive Neighbors September 2024

Two Months and Counting

The Fall election is approaching fast.  There is a lot to do these last two months.

Campaigning:

There are a number of important races this year in Maryland.  Of course, we hope for a strong showing for the Harris/Walz ticket.  And we need Jamie Raskin to get reelected.  But there are two close races in the state that could come down to the wire.  

Senate race to elect Angela Alsobrooks: 

The Democrats are likely going to lose the West Virginia Senate seat but retain all their incumbents.  This means a 50-50 Senate with Democrats in charge if Harris and Walz win.  Walz would be the tie breaking vote, as Harris was the first two years of the Biden Administration.  But, if Maryland elects Hogan to the Senate, Republicans would be in charge and could block most important legislation and appointments.  Alsobrooks would also be an important vote to protect reproductive rights.  This is why is it crucial we elect Angela Alsobrooks as our next Senator from Maryland.  She should be the first black woman elected as Senator from Maryland (and only the second woman) as well as only the third black woman ever elected to the Senate!  The latest polls show it is a close race.  Hogan has better name recognition from 8 years as Governor and an undeserved reputation as a moderate.  He makes a lot of claims to be a “maverick” in the John McCain tradition, but his election would still leave the Senate in Republican control no matter how he votes and he will be under tremendous pressure to vote with leadership.  Please donate and volunteer to the Alsobrooks campaign.  There is door-knocking, phone banking and letter writing going on every day.  She has a campaign office in downtown Silver Spring across from Mi Rancho.

House race to elect April McClain Delaney: 

The closest race in Maryland will be to replace David Trone in Western Maryland/Northern Montgomery County.  April Delaney is in a close race against Neil Parrott.  The House currently is under Republican control but just barely.  Winning or losing a few seats will determine control of the House next year.  The Democrats have a great chance of flipping the house, due in part to massive efforts like Raskin’s Democracy Summer.  But every seat matters.  We cannot lose this Western Maryland seat.  You can donate to Delaney’s campaign here or volunteer for her campaign here.  Getting as many votes as we can in northern Montgomery County (e.g. Gaithersburg) could make the difference.  Flipping the House will put Jamie Raskin in charge of the House Oversight Committee instead of Rep. Comer who has misused this office to go after political opponents with frivolous investigations.

Out of State Races:

You can also volunteer to work in Pennsylvania which will be critical to Harris winning in November.  A 1 ½-2 hour drive north to York or Harrisburg will take you to Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, currently represented by Scott Perry, one of the worst election deniers/MAGA extremists.  Janelle Stelson is the Democrat running against him.  She is a former news anchor in that area and has a lot of name recognition and favorability.  Polls show her in a competitive race.  Every weekend there are caravans of volunteers going up there to canvass through NOPE, Silver Spring Progressive Action, and others.  Check Janelle’s website for more information.  If you are even more ambitious, drive down to North Carolina to help turn NC Blue.  Virginia also has some tight races, particularly in the southern part of the state (VA-7).

Our website has a section on “Election Links” which lists a large number of groups you could work with.

Montgomery County School Board: 

There are three races for school board this fall:

In the Primary we endorsed Rita Montoya, Natalie Zimmerman and Laura Stewart.

The most important of these races is District 2 where Brenda Diaz, who is aligned with conservative causes, needs to be defeated.  Questionnaires for all these candidates can be found on our website: At Large, District 2, District 4. 

Ballot Questions:

There will be two ballot questions on the ballot this fall.  One State-wide question (Question 1) is posed to enshrine reproductive freedom in the Maryland State Constitution and we recommend you vote in favor of it.

The second one is a local Montgomery County Ballot Question (Question A) which was placed on the ballot by Republicans.  The goal is to limit the County Executive to two terms rather than the current three terms.  Council members are limited to three terms.  This was placed on the ballot specifically to prevent County Executive Marc Elrich from running for a third term in 2026.  Republicans who can’t win at the ballot box in Montgomery County are trying for this undemocratic end run.  We strongly oppose this and recommend you vote No and tell your friends to vote No as well.

The stakes are high this fall.  The election will be close.  It is coming up fast.  As Michelle Obama said at the convention, it is important to “Do Something” and “Leave it all on the field” per Coach Walz.  We don’t have many days left.  Whatever you are doing to help, do more.  Give an extra $10 or $20, volunteer for an extra shift canvassing, write another 50 postcards, make another 50 phone calls, ta

Progressive Neighbors June 2024

With the Primary behind us, we have a lot of work do to before the general election. In
Maryland we have two very competitive elections: the Senate race and the 6th District
Congressional race. Both are critical to keeping/winning Democratic Control of the House and Senate. We encourage you to get involved in the Alsobrooks Campaign and the Delaney Campaign.

Every year we say that this election is the most important one of our lifetimes. We don’t think that is an exaggeration this year. The stakes are high and the future of our country and our democracy rests on it.

Thank you in advance for all you will be doing this summer and fall.

How To Get Involved:

Sign up here to volunteer to help Alsobrooks. She is having a kickoff campaign
weekend June 29th-30th . The Party has also posted a website highlighting all the Hogan vetoes during his eight years as governor.

Sign up here to help with the Delaney Campaign. Please make campaign donations to both campaigns. These will be close races. We can’t afford Republicans in control of either house of Congress.

Our other major job over the next 4 months is to reelect Joe Biden. We have differences our with Joe Biden, but he has been the most progressive President since FDR and has made tremendous strides on the environment, the economy, and the social justice agenda, to name a few. It would be unthinkable to sit home or not vote for him. The alternative would be chaos and a right-wing theocratic takeover.

You can help the campaign by volunteering with them or one of the many organizations listed on our resources page.

You may also want to consider traveling to Pennsylvania, Virginia or North Carolina to help win those battlegrounds states. York, PA, for example, has a competitive race to beat Scott Perry, one of the leaders of the Freedom Caucus and is only an hour and a half drive from Silver Spring.

You can and should, of course, also support Jamie Raskin’s Democracy Summer program to help flip the House.

Progressive Neighbors February 2024

Every election cycle we hear that this one is the most important in our lifetime.  Well in this case it may actually be true.  We have three critical tasks this November: Reelect Joe Biden, Hold or expand the Democrats margin in the Senate, and Retake the House.  Holding the Senate just became more difficult with Hogan’s entry into the Maryland Senate race.  We have three open House seats in Maryland, which is unprecedented, and at least one of them is in a purple district.  Achieving these objectives depends on having good candidates. 

In the Presidential race, Joe Biden will undoubtedly be the nominee.  He is a good man and has done a remarkable job passing consequential legislation and moving forward on many domestic issues like student debt and abortion protection.  Handwringing about his age will not help and is ridiculous.  He has managed to make so much progress both domestically and internationally because of his age and experience.  We need to work relentlessly this Fall to reelect him.  The alternative would be a disaster for the country and our democracy.

In the Senate race, we have to nominate a strong candidate who will stand up to Hogan and critique his performance as Governor.  He fought every progressive initiative from the Legislature vetoing many bills that later had to be overridden.  His positive approval ratings are undeserved. 

In the House races we have many strong candidates, in some cases too many candidates.  In the absence of ranked choice voting, it’s likely a candidate will win the primary with 30-40% of the vote.  We are sending questionnaires to the candidates and expect to make endorsements in early April. 

We are also sending questionnaires to the candidates for Montgomery County School Board.  The School Board has had a difficult year with several controversies.  The school budget takes up about half of the county’s revenue.  So it is incumbent upon us to take a close look at the candidates.  Because the race is non-partisan, the parties stay out of the way and neglect to weigh in.  We recognize that many people go to vote without any idea of who the candidates are and where they stand on issues.  This can be dangerous in light of efforts of right wing candidates around the country running for and taking over school boards.  We can’t let that happen. 

Watch this space in April for our endorsements.  The Maryland primary is only 3 months away on May 14th.  It is critical that we vote and elect the best candidates.  We will do our part by vetting the candidates and making recommendations.  Please do your part by becoming informed voters and helping get out the vote, not just here but also in neighboring swing states like Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina.  Elections matter. 

Progressive Neighbors Update – May 2023

Dear Friends,

Progressive Neighbors is primarily focused on electing progressive candidates to local office in primary and general elections every four years.  Last year we made endorsements and many of our candidates were successful.  Marc Elrich was reelected as County Executive by a slim margin (32 votes).  The Montgomery County Council was dramatically reshaped with 6 women elected and several of the new members were candidates we supported (like Kristin Mink, Kate Stewart and Laurie-Ann Sayles).  The progressive wing of the council has definitely expanded, though it still constitutes a minority of the council.

We have stayed busy though during the interim supporting progressive legislation.  We supported the Child Victims Act of 2023 in the legislature to eliminate the statute of limitations for child sex abuse (HB 001).  We submitted testimony in support of the HOME Act which would cap rent increases in the county at 3%.  And we submitted testimony in support of the STEP Act (Bill 12-23) to limit traffic stops by police for minor traffic offenses.

Rockville City Council has elections coming up this fall and our friend Zola Shaw has thrown her hat in the ring.  Check out her website for events and to make donations.  We’re looking forward to working on her campaign over the next few months and electing a true progressive to that City Council.

With the retirement of Senator Ben Cardin we believe there is a window of opportunity as several openings are being created by politicians choosing to run for Senate (a once in several decades opening).  Currently Congressman David Trone, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando have entered the race.  If Congressman Jamie Raskin decides to run for Senate, numerous people will be running for his seat.  The Maryland primary is one year away (May 14, 2024).  A lot can happen in one year, but we see a lot of work ahead of us and a busy election season in 2024.  Stay tuned.


One Month Out – October 2022

Dear Friends,
Election Day is only a month away.  Early voting starts on October 27th and runs through November 3rd.  Most of the races are not close or contested but there are several races that could result in upsets.  The main priority is electing a Democratic Governor, e.g. Wes Moore.  The past two cycles were disasters.  Hogan’s vetoes have delayed protections and rights for many Marylanders.  We can’t take a chance.  There needs to be a big turnout for Moore and every other democrat running up and down the ballot.  The race for comptroller is tightening and we need Brooke Lierman as our next Comptroller, especially since she will sit on the Board of Public Works. 
 
The county council, if we all turn out, could elect a majority of women for the first time.  Many of them are clearly progressives that we at Progressive Neighbors supported like Kristin Mink, Kate Stewart and Laurie-Ann Sayles.  Several others are progressive as well giving us a real shot at a progressive majority on the council who can work with Marc Elrich to enact a truly progressive agenda for the county. 
 
There are two other issues that need our attention:  school board races and ballot questions.  The school board races are non-partisan.  We supported Scott Joftus in the primary, who is running against Julie Yang, the MCEA endorsed candidate.  The real danger is the race for District 1 where Grace Rivera-Oven is running against Esther Wells.  Wells is an anti-vaxer who campaigns against “CRT” in schools, works for a non-profit that opposes homosexuality, and has been endorsed by the GOP and hate groups that vilify immigrants. It is critical that we not elect Wells to the school board. 
 
The other issue is the ballot questions.  While most of the ballot questions are relatively non-controversial (or very popular like Question 4 which would legalize cannabis in the state), one question raised our eyebrows.  County Question A would take the power to fire the county attorney away from the county executive and share that power with the county council.  The Democratic precinct officials voted last month to oppose this question but the MCDCC (county democratic party leaders) voted to stay neutral so the sample ballot takes no position on this question.  We hope you will vote No on Question A.
 
Yes, there are many races around the country that deserve your attention and support (door knocking, phone calls, postcards, donations).  But there are still important issues that need our attention locally.  Please get out to vote, get your neighbors out to vote and support progressive candidates up and down the ballot.

Scott Schneider